Sevenoaks 20: Making Ways | Page 6

Jess Beare (OS 2017) Fine Art, Falmouth University 2018–2021 Since leaving Sevenoaks, I spent a year doing an Art Foundation at Plymouth College of Art and then moved onto a Fine Art degree at Falmouth University (I have always been drawn to the sea). Growing increasingly conscious of the impact my art practice has on the environment, I have been searching for ways to create art that don’t make use of harmful chemicals, plastics or excess electricity. This presented many barriers for me, which is why I am so grateful to have found Cyanotype printing, a non-toxic method of alternative photography that I am using to document the negative impact we continue to have on our planet and the creatures we share it with. Currently, I am making art by gathering both natural and man-made objects I find at the beach, such as shells and plastic waste, then using sunlight to expose them onto light-sensitive material before dipping the results into the sea to ‘fix’ the image. In the future, I hope to continue exploring kinder ways of making art.